Hello. I stopped working for an undesirable employer of 12 years last June. I really don't want to make a lateral move to another print shop. I have been in printing doing mostly prepress for 25 years. What are your thoughts on prepress or printing consulting? I tried to do some print brokering, but the competition with online printers is fierce and I am not the best sales person. I was hoping to consult new graphic artists and or office managers that try to do their own printing but get unexpected results from their errors. I haven't found many resources for this kind of project and it's currently just an idea. Does anyone think this could work?

Regina,

You could consider looking for corporate marketing departments that are hiring.... If they're doing any major advertising - they probably have a team of designers that won't have the necessary skills to send clean files to printers. I didn't really know this role existed until I got into my current role with a national retailer... My team is responsible for managing internal proofing, and then packaging approved files to send to our various printers around the country. ....just a thought, and probably worth looking.

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People will notice the change in your attitude towards them, but won't notice their behavior that made you change. -Bob Marley

For a while, I took some time off, but I went to several shops and made them aware I was available for "consulting," and fill-in part-time work. It was a gold mine, because most shops only have one guy, and he/she can never take any time off because everything stops. Being an "on-call," fill in worked very well for me, as within the first month "off," I worked almost every day between 3 different shops. I'm back to employed full-time, but I still get calls and fill-in elsewhere as needed. My clients allow me to come in at my leisure, so I do a lot of my fill-in work after hours so I can still work my regular day job without issue.

How did you do this DigiCorn? Just walked into the shop and talked to the owners?

For a while, I took some time off, but I went to several shops and made them aware I was available for "consulting," and fill-in part-time work. It was a gold mine, because most shops only have one guy, and he/she can never take any time off because everything stops. Being an "on-call," fill in worked very well for me, as within the first month "off," I worked almost every day between 3 different shops. I'm back to employed full-time, but I still get calls and fill-in elsewhere as needed. My clients allow me to come in at my leisure, so I do a lot of my fill-in work after hours so I can still work my regular day job without issue.

How did you do this DigiCorn? Just walked into the shop and talked to the owners?

Yup. There were also a few places I had interviewed at previously, so they were familiar with me and had a resume on file already. I list it on LinkedIn also.

In other news, I can ad wide/large format and signage (again) to my resume. I had done vinyl cutting for signs in the past, but now I'm helping out in our sign shop running the Roland and HP Scitex. Our sign maker is on vacation the last two weeks of June, so they're getting me all trained up to fill in while she's gone.

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"Selling my soul would be a lot easier if I could just find it." – Nikki Sixx

“Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.” ― Ernest Hemingway